RHA meets HWC

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 474, 23 February 1993, Page 2

RHA meets HWC

Rural Health Authority (RHA) representatives met with some of the members of the. Community Health Watch Committee (CHWC) and Health

Centre staff on Friday 11 February at Waimarino Health Centre. Murray Burns, chief executive officer and Barry Taylor, health services manager talked of the role of

Central RHA emphasising "Our role is to purchase the best possible health care and support services to benefit people of our region. The Central region has a population of more that 850,000 and runs from Wanganui to Hawkes Bay in the north and down to Malborough/Nelson in the south. The RHA will be seeking to improve the general health status and services available within the funding available to them. They will be assessing the need for services within a community and monitoring the performance of providers of these services so that we can look forward to getting the best possible services available. By consulting with various groups within the community and getting public feedback these services can be decided on. It is the aim of RHA to work closely with communities so they can benefit from advice they give re the community 's needs. Feasibility was stressed with health needs varying from community to community. It was reassuring to hear that as the health of people was their major concern people would not suffer as a result of these changes and that indeed we may profit in the long-term by "health care boundaries being more integrated, flexible, effective and crossible." A further meeting with Dennis Woods from Community Health Education on Wednesday 17 February at 11.30am is to be held at the Waimarino Health Centre and will allow opportunity for more discussion on changes in health care.